The 31-year-old no-nonsense centre-back was a star player when the Yorkshire club were promoted from League One, but has found his chances limited in recent years due to injury.

With Danny Higginbotham having left the Blues at the end of his loan spell to join Sheffield United, Blues boss Mick McCarthy has moved quickly to bring in some cover for Luke Chambers and Tommy Smith.

“It’s great to be here and it’s great to have the opportunity to play some football again,” said Kisnorbo, who is eligible to play at Aston Villa in the FA Cup third round on Saturday and could replace Chambers after he broke his nose in training this morning.

“I haven’t been playing at Leeds and I’ve got the opportunity to come here now, so I just want to do well for the manager, the players and the fans.

“It’s been well documented that I’ve had a couple of injuries during my time at Leeds and it’s been hard, but I’m fully fit now and ready to show what I can do.”

The former Leicester and Hearts defender also revealed that he came close to joining Blues earlier in his career but a move to Portman Road didn’t quite materialise.

“There was talk about me coming here before from Leicester, along with Gareth McAuley but it didn’t happen in the end,” added the defender, speaking to the club website.

“It was unfortunate but that’s football. I’m glad to be here now though and there’s a great set-up here at Ipswich.

“That was then though and I’m here now and looking forward to doing well with my new team-mates.

“The first thing I said to the lads when I arrived was that there’s a good squad here and we can certainly keep moving forward. You know what it’s like in the Championship though, it’s really up and down.”

McCarthy said: “The first thing I liked about him was he was available and eligible for the weekend!

“I know him, I’ve seen him play at Leicester and I know he’s a good competitor, a good defender and good character around the place. He has been injured, but he’s trained every day and played in the Under-21 games – we’ve checked all that out with Leeds’ fitness coaches.

“He’s another one who’s not been playing, but I’m delighted we’ve got him in because we only had Chambo and Tommy Smith at centre-backs.”